Merida, Spain

Posted on October 25, 2015 by Trudy

Sunday, October 18

Merida is about half an hour from the Portuguese border, in central Spain. It poured rain all night and most of this morning so we weren’t in a hurry to go exploring. We decided we would go to the Museo Nacional de Arte Romano, which we both really enjoyed. It is a beautiful building that was designed to house this collection, rather than being a converted monastery or palace, like so many museums in Europe .

Here is a close up of the sculptures and reliefs at the end of this big hall. I really loved this huge bull from the 1st Century AD.

The museum has several very large floor mosaics on display. I wonder how they are able to lift these off a floor and display them on a wall? Anyone know?Portrait sculpture was very important to the ancient Romans. I felt like I would know these people if I met them, their portraits were so expressive.

We stayed in the museum until it closed at 4:00 and then went to visit the Amphitheatre and the Roman Theatre. These were both amazing places. The sunken area of the amphitheatre was once covered by a wooden floor. I have no idea why, there are lots of things I wanted to know about, but didn’t find answers to. Guess I need to do some research.The view from inside a ‘room’ beside one of the entrances to the floor of the amphitheatre. Some pictures of the area on the way to the Roman Theatre.

Merida was founded in 25 BC and was the capital of Rome’s westernmost province which was why it has all these fantastic monuments. This Theatre wa built in 15-16 BC and is still used today in the summer for the city’s drama festival. It is hard to believe that these ruins are 2000 years old and still in such good condition. Yes, some of it has been reconstructed but it is all still pretty amazing.

The gardens behind the stage were used as a foyer during intermissions.We spent quite a bit of time walking around these splendid ruins but then it started to rain again so we headed home for another late supper. Our car was parked near this pretty little courtyard.

Toledo to Merida

Posted on October 22, 2015 by Trudy

Saturday, October 17

We are on our way to Toledo this morning, and then on to Merida where we have our next apartment. Yesterday we stayed home for a bit of rest and to pack and get ready for today. This view is from the cafeteria on the top floor of the public library in Toledo.We literally travelled in circles looking for a library of ancient manuscripts and books. The Information center sent us to the library, but it was the public library and they told us that what we wanted was likely closed but that we could go see, so we went there, but where they sent us wasn’t the right place. A second information lady gave us different information. We found out it was in the Alcázar museum, so we went there, only they told us we needed to go back to the library and that the collection was a special room there. The same library that sent us elsewhere! Only problem was that it closed at 2:00 and it is now ten to two! We give up, deciding that we just weren’t meant to see these manuscripts. Too bad, I would really have enjoyed the chance to at least have a look at them. One of the stops on our way to find the elusive manuscripts overlooks a winding road and the hills on the edge of town.We did find this statue of Cervantes, the author of Don Quixote’s La Mancha.The streets are very narrow and Toledo is a very hilly town. We seem to be either climbing up or down steps and streets. Once again, we are out and about when a lot of the shops and businesses are closed. This 2:00 to 5:00 lunch hour just doesn’t work for us. We are usually home by 8:00, and it seems everyone else is just starting to think about their evening’s meal and entertainment.We take a tea break and have this great view of the Toledo Cathedral, but neither of us really feel like going inside, instead we sit in the sun and watch the people in the square. Great people watching!

There are lots of knives and swords for sale here, apparently they are made locally. I have a friend who makes beautiful knives and thought he might like seeing these. There is lots more to see in Toledo but we are tired and need to get on the road to Merida to meet our next host at 8:00. We drive in pouring rain for the last couple of hours and it continues to come down in buckets when we arrive in Merida, but we meet Ana, our host, and we love our new apartment.

We have been very pleased with all of our Airbnb apartments so far. Let’s hope our luck lasts. I love seeing all the apartments and it is so nice having a kitchen. We are making most of our meals as that works so much better with my dietary restrictions.

The Prado

Posted on October 22, 2015 by Trudy

Thursday October 15

This Mad Hatter was outside the Prado with his little white mouse. They both looked very content and pleased with themselves!The Prado has 102 rooms and we managed to visit all but 17 of them. We spent about six hours exploring and soaking up the incredible art work but we simply ran out of time and energy. There are no photos in the Museum but I did take these two. I know, I am a bad girl! We saw many paintings that were familiar because of reading my art books. It was wonderful seeing these works in person. This is a very famous Goya work titled “The Family of Charles IV.” I just wanted one photo to say “Yes, I was there.” When I am home I will find a good book on the Prado as a reminder of everything we have seen today. Books are just too heavy to lug around in our suitcases!The Museum encourages artists to study and paint in the Museum, as this young lady was doing. We saw several artists at work today. Pictures were allowed in the Leoni Cloister and when we looked up we could see that there were workrooms above the cloister. I would love to be able to tour these rooms, but had to settle for zooming in for a closer look.We headed back to our Airbnb for some much needed rest. I love touring Museums and Art Galleries but it is quite exhausting, physically and mentally.This has been home for the last ten nights but we leave the day after tomorrow. We only planned on staying here for four nights but liked it so much, and Bob really liked taking the bus into Madrid instead of driving, so we changed our reservation to twelve nights.

Palacio Real and Templo De Debod

Posted on October 21, 2015 by Trudy

Wednesday, October 14

The Palacio Real is the official residence of Spanish Royalty and the building we tried to visit Monday that was closed for a State Function.Bob read somewhere that there are over 2000 rooms in the Palace but we are quite content to visit the twenty or so that were open to the public. This is half of the grand staircase at the entrance, there is also a set of stairs on either side of this one that continues to the second level. The red crest at the top of the stairs is the personal crest of King Felipe IV, who we almost saw on Monday!This is the view up above the staircase. It was very ornate but only a taste of what we saw inside the Palace rooms.i did take one picture of the Royal Chamber of Carlos (Charles) III also known as the Gasparini Room. We spent about an hour and a half touring these lavish rooms, each more ornate and incredible than the last. We even visit the Throne room and the Crown Room where the Royal Crown and Sceptre are kept along with other State treasures. There are the ordinary sort of Museum ‘guards’ but there doesn’t appear to be a lot of security inside the Palace. Mind you, there are lots of police everywhere outside the palace.Do I look royal walking down the Palace stairs? Just picture me in a beautiful ball gown, all decked out in jewels!We visit the Armoury through these old doors. Turns out it is one of the most important collections of parade and tournament armour in the world! Everything is beautifully displayed on two floors and there is even armour for children and ponies. No photos allowed, but here is a photo of a photo from a little calendar we bought.

After a tea break in the Palace Cafeteria I do go back and sketch this interesting old helmet from the 1400’s. It was one of the first exhibits we saw when we entered the armoury, and of course I love dragons. It was also small enough to sketch in a short time.

We walk through the Palace Gardens on our way to the Parque del Oeste which is on a hill high above the Palace.

There we visit the Egyptian Temple de Debod. The neat thing about seeing this temple is that we actually visited its original location, where the Aswan Dam flooded many temples, several years ago. Now here we are in Madrid, seeing this temple that was saved and given to the Spanish people in thanks for their help in saving the temples at Abu Simbel.

Two of the original entrance arches to the temple.A view of the back of this 2000 year old temple and some of Madrid’s newer buildings. I thought this dome was different all in coloured tiles. A view of the Palace. We can see for miles from the top of the park behind the Temple of Debod.On the way home we stop for tapas at the Mercado de San Miguel that we visited the other day. This is basically a glorified food court in a neat old iron and glass building. We find some tapas for Bob, and one for me. Bob has two delicious pastries and I have to be content with taking pictures of desserts. It is hard to find any for me when I don’t eat gluten, eggs or dairy. I do get a fruit cup…This picture is for L & M, yummy little hedgehogs and Marzipan fruit and veggies with faces.

Real Madrid Stadium Tour and Retiro Park

Posted on October 18, 2015 by Trudy

Tuesday October 13.

While Bob went to the Real Madrid Soccer stadium for a tour I went to the public library near Retiro Park to work on my journal.

Madrid soccer club was granted the name Real (meaning Royal) in the 1920’s by the King of Spain. Tuesday was a much better day to tour the soccer stadium as there were no crowds, unlike Bob’s first try on Sunday.The stadium holds over 80,000 fans. The tour is very inter-active, with lots of video screens showing the rich history of the club. Somewhere in this player’s montage is Bob with the European cup. The montage is made up of photos of the day’s visitors.The tour included the top view of the stadium, the pitch, the player’s benches, the locker rooms and the media room. Lots to see in 90 minutes. Soccer equipment has changed a liitle since the 1950’s.We walked through Retiro Park before going home and saw a rather strange art exhibit at the Crystal Palace. There were mammoth bones and a crucifix hanging from the ceiling as well as some letters and other ephemera in boxes and on the walls. The information on the exhibit did little to explain anything. Maybe you can spot the crucifix?The Crystal Palace itself is a beautiful conservatory, but unfortunately it is no longer used for plants, just art exhibits and other functions. I loved the reflections of the trees and the conservatory.

This cute fellow was guarding the pond in front of the conservatory, which had trees growing right in the water. Parks in Madrid are much like parks in Paris, with lots of hard surfaces, plantings of trees, shrubs and flowers and a bit of grass, which you usually are not allowed on. With so many people using the parks it is the only way to maintain grassy areas.Retiro park has a large ‘pleasure’ lake with row boats for rent and a half moon colonnade with a large equestrian statue of Alfonso XII. It was a bit cool today so no boat ride for us.
Another view of the park.We exit the park here and catch the metro back to Moncloa Station to catch our bus home. Almost everywhere we look in Madrid there are beautiful buildings. It sure makes the architecture in Edmonton seem rather drab.

It is a 35 or 40 minute bus ride home, but it is quite relaxing and Bob is enjoying the break from driving, and I am happy not to have to navigate. I am finally doing a bit of drawing on the metro and bus

Spanish National Holiday, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Guernica

Posted on October 16, 2015 by Trudy

Monday, October 12, Day 30 of our holiday!

Today is Dia de la Hispanidad, Spain’s National Holiday to celebrate Columbus’s discovery of America in 1492. There is a Military Parade this morning but it is a bit too early for us, so instead we go to the Palacio Real (Royal Palace) which is supposed to be free today. However, when we arrive it is all cordoned off and there are lots of police and crowds of people everywhere.We decide that we should wait around and see what is going to happen. Turns out that King Felipe IV is to arrive at the palace, and after about an hour Bob thinks we should move closer to an entrance that is guarded by mounted soldiers. Good thing we did because a couple minutes later a cavalcade of cars, and lots of police arrive and so does the King. Only problem is we are still quite far away and the cars drive up and turn into the palace very quickly. We both try to take a picture and I mange to get this one which shows the King’s car but not much else. Oh well…. We do get to see the mounted troops return from the parade and they are magnificent.We find a spot to eat in the park across from the palace, accompanied by a guitar player singing in English. It was quite nice hearing something we could actually understand. I’ve only managed to learn a few Spanish words: I keep thinking of French words instead of the Spanish ones I have been trying to learn. They just don’t seem to stick in my mind.We decide to walk to the Reina Sophia museum, only we get lost, repeatedly! Bob is using a new map app on the phone and either the app or Bob is not working well because we find ourselves walking in the wrong direction more than once. We do walk past some interesting buildings…

and a newly planted bed of veggies around a statue that was very pretty.

And then there are the interesting street performers trying to make a bit of money. If people walked too close to this one, a head jumped out and scared them.

We end up right back where we started after walking in a big circle so we head for a Metro station near Plaza Mayor, and encounter hordes of people.The subway takes us very close to the Museum, but do you think we can find it? After some more walking in circles, as it seems to be that sort of a day, we finally spot the museum entrance tucked between two buildings. We are here to see PIcasso’s famous painting ‘Guernica’. I sneak this photo from afar and through a doorway, just to say I was here.

The painting is very powerful. It doesn’t reproduce well at post card or even book page size as the brushstrokes, textures, lines and subtleties of the paint and drawing just don’t show up. I was surprised by how much I liked this painting as it never appealed to me before. Here we are posing beside a couple sculptures we liked. A Picasso for me…and a Jacques Lipchitz for Bob. He liked this one even before he knew it was a sailor with a guitar I just loved this little head, ‘Portrait of my son Jordi’ by an artist named Joan Rebull.The hallways made an optical illusion in this photograph. Depending on how you look at it it is an arched ceiling or a big white cone. Can you see it?

We take the glass elevators up to the fourth floor just to check oiut the views, then down and we head for home. Can you find Bob?

Madrid, Bibliotec National, and Museo Arqueológico Nacional

Posted on October 15, 2015 by Trudy

Thursday October 8

We have a quiet day at home, but we end up spending quite a bit of the day looking for accommodations in Madrid, but we aren’t having much luck. Madrid seems to be quite expensive, not many places have parking and we aren’t getting answers back from some of the places we contacted. We decide that we will stay where we are and take the bus into Madrid. It is a 40 minute ride and Bob is looking forward to not driving for a while.

Friday , October 9

We take the bus into Madrid which works very well. It is every comfortable, kind of like a Greyhound Bus, and it is very relaxing for both of us. First stop in Madrid is the Canadian Embassy as we were told we could vote there for the upcoming Canadian election. Turns out we can’t, as the ballot has to be mailed in and the package was sent to our home address. The very tall first building is where the Canadian Embassy is located on the very secure 21 floor. Lots of security in this tower.
Back on the Metro to find the Archeological Museum. I love the metro! It is fast, easy and offers great people watching. On our way to the museum we see the Bibliotheca National and I can’t bypass a library so we go check it out, but not before stopping to say hello to this cute fellow.

The building is very big and beautiful, but we discover it isn’t a public library, entrance is only available if you take a tour, which are all sold out for today. We are allowed to go in and check out a Rudyard Kipling exhibit in a room near the entrance after showing our passports, getting our pictures taken, putting our bags through an X ray machine, and getting a visitors pass! There was only a collection of Kipling’s books in the exhibit, not too interesting, but the room attached to it had some great old books and manuscripts…

……including what I think must be a facsimile of a Leonardo Da Vinci sketchbook. Hard to make out as all the labels are in Spanish. The staff also tell us about an exhibit downstairs that we can visit. Turns out it is “Caligrafía Española” el arte describir. Of course we have to see this. The first thing we see on entering is this wonderful collection of calligraphy equipment from the 1700’s and 1800’s. Most of these are the same tools used by calligraphers today. There are many books and font samplers and these two beautiful examples of flourishes.

Finally we arrive at the MAN, the Museo Arqueológico National. Turns out it is a great museum, and we get to see a facsimile of Lucy. I remember talking about australopithicus and Lucy when I taught Social Studies many years ago. Isn’t she beautiful?

There is a display with examples of archeological sites in Spain, and it turns out they are everywhere. This Screen grab says it best “Spain, A Huge Archeological Site.” I think you could look almost anywhere in Spain and find an archaeological site!In the museum there are some very intricate mosaics. They are even more incredible when you see the size of the individual mosaic pieces.The next exhibit has several room sized floor mosaics that are equally as stunning.

I love old doors and this one is a beauty. It just looks as though I am touching it….

We are amazed at the technology that was in use so long ago, but the one item that probably surprised me the most was the Speculum magnum matrios, a vaginal dilator used in gynaelogical exams, surgeries and childbirth. The Romans developed this medical technology in the First Century AD! It is hard to imagine, and this looks very similar to the ones in use today!

We stop for tea after two hours, and then do our best to see everything else but we ran out of energy and time and I am afraid we rather quickly strolled through the Egyptian and Greek rooms without trying to see and read about everything. There are about fourty rooms here, and they are all pcked with so much to see. We are pooped, but we enjoyed this museum a lot. It was extremely well laid out, had lots of great videos, English signage and beautiful exhibits. It always amazes me that so many items have survived so many centuries intact. I also did a few drawings at the museum.

Avila’s Medieval Walls

Posted on October 15, 2015 by Trudy

Wednesday, October 7

Today we visit Avila, which is the highest provincial capital in Spain, at 3,710′ or 1131 m. above sea level. In winter the access roads are sometimes blocked with snow, but I wonder if that is because there is so much snow or if it is because they don’t have the kind of snow removal vehicles we have in Alberta? The drive is through interesting countryside, which changes every few miles. We seem to be always either climbing or descending winding roads. There certainly aren’t many long straight stretches of road, even the freeways meander.
In about an hour we arrive in Avila and get our first look at the Medieval walls that encircle the city center. We find a parking spot on the street and we are shocked that 30 cents gives us five hours of parking! A great improvement over Segovia yesterday when it cost us more than 9€ for less time.

The walls are very beautiful with ochre, pink and bluish toned stones arranged in an attractive pattern.It took some doing, but we finally found the entrance to climb the tower walls and we find ourselves on top of the finest preserved Medieval walls in all of Europe. These walls were built in the 11th Century and they are punctuated with 88 cylindrical towers. We are able to climb up into many of these towers. The apse of the city’s cathedral, in the background, also forms part of the walls. We stop and look down into a courtyard watching workers lay huge stone blocks for a walkway or perhaps a patio. They are very good, and get the stones in the right position and almost level on the first try. Bob has laid a lot of bricks in our yard and he knows this is not as easy as these guys make it look.These walls are almost two kilometers long and we walk as far as we can. Part of the walls have not been restored and we are are not able to walk on them.Here we are near the end of the walkable part of the wall, now we have to turn around and go all the way back, but first we stop and have tea and cookies at one of the many towers. It is incredible to think that we are walking the tops of these ancient walls, and it is easy to imagine soldiers standing in the same spots we are, defending their city from invaders over a thousand years ago. In Canada there aren’t any buildings or structures that are anywhere near that old. Columbus didn’t even discover North America until 1492! The sun casts long shadows as we make our way back to our car.

It has been quite windy since we left Northern Spain, and we have seen lots and lots of these windmills. There are stone fences everywhere, even in areas that look as if they were abandoned long ago. I really love all the stone walls and fences: it makes me want to build something out of stone!

Santillana Del Mar, Burgos Cathedral and Segovia

Posted on October 12, 2015 by Trudy

I am going to try to catch up on my blog a bit, but it will be a long post because I have such a hard time only picking a few pictures.

Saturday, Oct. 3

We visited the village of Santillana Del Mar, which is said to be one of the prettiest villages in Spain. The town grew around a monastery, La Colegiata, which we visit, after a walk through the streets and some more tapas at one of the local bars. Bob also tried a glass of local cider which the bartender poured, holding the bottle about three feet above the glass. Very impressive!

La Colegiatas
Several beautiful big old books, but I am only able to view these from a distance…
This church has beautiful capitals in its cloister that are amazingly well preserved.Sunday is a quiet day, figuring out the next part of our trip, packing and tidying our apartment.

Monday, October 5th we are on the road early and head south to Burgos. The drive takes us through some very interesting, constantly changing countryside. It is very windy and cloudy but no rain to speak of. We find parking easily in Burgos, which is a surprise, and head off to the Cathedral. 7€ each to visit and that includes an audioguide, which is very helpful. It is one of the biggest Cathedrals we have visited yet, and incredibly ornate, with lots of paintings, sculptures, vestments and furniture. There is way too much to absorb, every where we looked there was something else that was absolutely incredible. This is without doubt the most ornate ceiling in the cathedral!On the lower level there is a scale model of the cathedral with reflections on the case from the stained glass windows of the cloister. The windows into the cloister.We must always remember to look up when in cathedrals.

We arrive at our next Airbnb after a long day of driving and settle in for the next four days in a very comfortable apartment about 45 minutes outside Madrid.

Tuesday, October 6

Segovia is our destination today. It is about an hour from our apartment, but the drive goes quickly as the scenery is constantly changing. We want to see Segovia’s cathedral, which is the last great Gothic cathedral to be built, dating from 1525. Take note of the cathedral tower, because we climb it!

This cathedral has beautiful stained glass windows… which cast their colours onto the interior when the sun was shining.

We climb the 185 steps, which are 25 cm high on a 70cm wide staircase to reach the bells in the tower. The views are amazing.

After the climb up there is the climb down. I have to admit my legs were feeling a bit tired by the time we reached the bottom. The other main attraction is Segovia is the Aquaduct that was built in the first century AD by the Romans and was still in use until the late 19th Century. It is stunning, and we spend a fair bit of time admiring this amazing feat of engineering. It was made without mortar, just rocks piled on top of each other over 2000 years ago! It is hard to describe just how incredible the Aquaduct is, so I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

The sun is setting as we head off for home.

Guggenheim and Museo de Bella Artes in Bilbao

Posted on October 8, 2015 by Trudy

Friday October 2

We were going to take the metro into Bilbao but it was impossible to find a parking spot anywhere nearby so we ended up driving into the City. Once again I am very thankful for our trusty iPad and its navigational abilities. We finally find a parking garage there and walk to the Guggenheim along the river. We pass this big mural under a bridge.

Soon we see the museum, which is a very impressive building, covered in thin sheets of titanium. I quite like this big spider sculpture. Another view near the entrance.

The Guggenheim Bilbao was not what we expected, and judging by the looks on the other visitors’ faces, not what they expected either. I did like the Richard Serra installation called The Matter of Time. Here is a picture of a picture and then a not very good photo of Bob walking through one of the sculptures to give an idea of its immense size.

An interactive art work. Can you spot me?

There were only two other exhibits, one of an artist named Jean-Michel Besquiat and a couple of video installations that were very strange. Besquiat’s work was a bit like street art, quite dark and hard to appreciate. Look him up if you are interested. There were no photos allowed. I decided that the building itself is really a piece of artwork and needs to be appreciated that way. It is not a functional building for displaying art, or even for navigating through.

We have tea and some tapas in the café and we decide we have seen enough of the Guggenheim.

One of Bilbao residents favourite pieces of art is Puppy by Jeff Koon. It is a 13 m (43′) high sculpture of a Highland Terrier with a coat of flowers. It made both of us smile.

And…I don’t think Inhave mentioned how much people in Spain love dogs. There are dogs eveywhere, and often they are very large dogs. These two ladies had seven dogs between them, some of them were off leash.

We had our picnic lunch on the benches here and then go to the Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, which was wonderful. It was very well organized chronologically and the paintings were also labeled in English, which we really appreciated. There are so many fantastic Spanish painters I have never even heard of. We particularly liked the 13th to 15th Century paintings which were larger, more colourful and full of expression than paintings we have seen from this time in other museums. I took a quick snap of this Mary Cassatt work, which is one of my favourites. I was so surprised to walk into a room and find this painting.

On our walk back to our car I took this photo to show the mix of very modern sculpture in the foreground, very old buildings, and then the extremely modern tower in the background. Everywhere in Spanish cities and towns we see this interesting mix of styles.

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Tag Archives: Spain

Merida, Spain

Toledo to Merida

The Prado

Palacio Real and Templo De Debod

Real Madrid Stadium Tour and Retiro Park

Spanish National Holiday, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Guernica

Madrid, Bibliotec National, and Museo Arqueológico Nacional

Avila’s Medieval Walls

Santillana Del Mar, Burgos Cathedral and Segovia

Guggenheim and Museo de Bella Artes in Bilbao

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